#ArignarAnnaSeries #E02 - Call My State 'Tamil Nadu'
Tamil Nadu was once named after it’s capital city, Madras. The situation was a complicated one. Even Congressmen spoke of Tamil Nadu within the State, reserving ‘Madras State’ for letters and speeches meant for external consumption. To appease the Tamil People, they even changed the name of the Aranmore Palace in Ooty to ‘Tamizhagam’. But they were not willing to set right this anomaly by making a Constitution Amendment.
It was Thiru Bhupesh Gupta, of the Communist Party who took the initiative in 1961 by introducing a private Members’ Bill to amend the First Schedule, entry number 7 of the Constitution. The purpose of the Bill was to call the Madras State by its rightful name ‘Tamil Nadu’ in conformity with the historical, linguistic and cultural considerations. Arignar Anna’s impassioned defense of this Bill will long be remembered for its sincere emotion and clear-cut reasoning.
The adamant Centre refused to yield and opposed the private Member’s Motion to call ‘Madras State’ by its rightful name ‘Tamil Nadu’. With its majority, the Congress Party defeated the Bill; but the change could not be resisted for long. Four years later in 1967, when the DMK was elected to power in Madras State, Anna as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu achieved his objective with the unanimous backing of both the Houses of the State Legislature. Today, there is no Madras State, only ‘Tamil Nadu’.
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